St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-10
Nelson County.

Dakota.
Nelson County.
LAKoTA, Nov. 29.-Your letter ask
ing for my opinion regarding this part
of Dakota, and its advantages for a
home for the homeless and land for the
landleSS, has been duly considered, and,
in reply, | can safely say that, should
there be those in the more crowded see
tons of the country who want homes
and land, this part of Dakota is as good
place as they can find. Land can be
had for the taking and living on it. Or,
should there be those who have small
farms in other states East and South
who wish to get farms, they will find it
to their advantage to come to this
country. | will say right here that
know of no better place to come to than
Nelson county. as no better land can be
found in Dakota, taken as whole, than
Nelson county contains.
This is emphatically healthy cOun-
try. | am fully convinced that mixed
farming can be carried on here to good
advantage, as we'll as farther South and
East. Wheat, of course, will be the
staple farm product here. but oats, bar
ley, spring rye and flax all do well here.
and are profitable crops to raise. All
kinds of root crops grow to perfection,
and as to hay, there is an abundance of
the best wild hay to be had for the put
ting up. | am fully convinced that
timothy and clover, both white and red,
will grow and do well here.
want to say something about this
thing of feeding stock eight months in
year. The idea is erroneous. My eX-
perience is that stock will do well here
seven months III year without feed or
shelter other than provided by nature.
My dry cattle have been on the range
since the last of March to date, and are
doing well. They will make good beef
today, and that, too, without having
been fed any kind of grain.
Come, friends, don't be afraid of cold.
It is too late to be scared or kept away
from here OH account of cold winters.
One word i'll regard to railroads and
markets. We have good market for
anything a man has to sell. and, as to
railroads. the st. Paul, Minneapolis IL
Manitoba is here, and well equipped,
and has a set of gentlemen managing it
who spare no pains and take delightiin
doing all they can to aid settlers i'll COM
ing to this country. There is no other
road that offers better inducements to
settlers than does the st. Paul, Mime
apolis & Manitoba. J. s. METCALF.
Walsh County.
GRAFTON, Dec. 2.-YOur kind offer
of space in which to give some items
concerning our county is too generous
to overlook, especially at the present
time when so much attention is attract
ed to Dakota on account Of our prosper
Gus condition and the lenefits to he de-
rived from settling here. The residents
of Walsh county have especial reason to
be satisfied with their location and are
far too backward III letting others know
how they are situated. With rich lands,
good water, plenty of timber and con-
Yenient markets we take things easy,
while less favored districts, without these
advantages are constantly presenting
alluring prospects which do not mate
rialize on closer examination. The Red
river valley may, without question, claim
the credit of being the most fertile tract
of land in North America, and in that
valley Walsh county is generally allowed
to be the beauty spot for fertility and
situation. Its small rivers or creeks, the
banks of which are all thickly Skirted
with heavy groves of fine timber, run
from west to east through the county
into the Red river, and afford ample fuel
for the settler, pure spring water for all
uses drainage for the land in the spring,
and lastly, in prairie country,
the timber forms a pleasing change
to the eye, being relief from
the monotony of the vast, fiat plain of
waving grass, so frequently without
break or landmark of any kind. Our
county looks like large park. with a
background of timber in every direc-
ton. Add to all this the fact that our
land is of the well-known black alluvial
soil. only to be found in the No. lizard
banana belt, and the reader has some
idea of Walsh county in its natural
state. The question now may be asked
as to how the people who settled in it
took advantage of these benefits and
what they have to show for them. The
county was organized in 1881,
in which year our first railway
came in. Since then we have had a
growth that, in any other district but
the Northwest, would not be credited.
We are, fortunately, far from the rail
road grant lands and bonanza farms;
this brings the farmers much closer to-
gether than they otherwise would be;
the schools are more numerous, better
attended, and we have a regular resi-
dent population amongst us the whole
year round, who feel they have perma-
nent interest in the welfare and
prosperity of the community. No mat
ter in what direction the traveller
may look or drive, he sees COM
Portable farm houses and buildings,
with here and there school house or a
church. Our roads are graded, coulies
and streams bridged, and wheat fields
well cultivated, so that travelling be-
comes a pleasure and profit. Our
wheat and other grain crop, during the
past season has been an extra heavy
one. We have never yet had bad
crop, or anything approaching it, but l
confess to this being the largest of all.
The yields reported have been mostly
over thirty bushels of wheat to the
acre, some reaching over forty. with
only an occasional one under twenty
five. ~
There are about 225, 900 acres of wheat
in crop in Walsh county, and at mod
crate estimate there will be cot less
than 4,5OO,O0O bushels of wheat shipped
out this season, after keeping what we
need for seed and flour. Besides wheat
we are exporting a large quantity of
potatoes and have heavy crops of corn,
oats. barley and all kinds of vegetables.
This is the land of GOSchen if ever
there was one. The climate may be
cold in winter, but it is healthy,
bracing cold; no dampnesS in the
atmosphere; even the snow has
scarcely enough moisture in it
to admit of the SNOWFALL being made.
In summer the weather is all that could
be desired, warm days and cool nights.
We are we'll supplied with markets, the
eastern half of the county especially,